North Shore watch.

Niles schools seeing red ink

January 31, 2002|By Lisa Black, Tribune staff reporter.

In the face of a looming budget shortfall, Niles Township High School District 219 is considering a number of budget reductions, but even those actions would not keep it in the black, officials said this week.

"Our most recent projections show that the district will be out of money in two years," board President Robert Silverman said. A decline in property tax revenue, growing enrollment and increased instructional costs are edging the district into deficit territory, he said.

The board will consider a list of more than 20 cost-saving measures that would save $3 million, Supt. Griff Powell said. Those suggested cuts include limiting the number of classes a student can take; reducing fine arts and athletics; eliminating field trips; and shrinking the size of the instructional and administrative staff.

"Even with doing all these things, it's still not going to balance the budget," Silverman warned. So far, there has been no public discussion of a tax hike.

The district's two high schools--Niles West and Niles North--have an enrollment of about 4,500 students.

Museum renews search: Holocaust Memorial Foundation officials are exploring options to relocate after their proposal to build a $15 million museum near a residential neighborhood was rejected by the Skokie Village Board last week.

Executive Director Lillian Polus Gerstner said she was disappointed by the outcome, because the foundation believed it had adequately addressed neighbors' concerns that the museum would bring too much traffic to the area.

The Village Board voted 4-3 against the project.

Now foundation officials will renew the search while remaining open in their current facility, 4255 Main St. in Skokie.

Youth joins budget battle: Twelve-year-old Adele Lehner collected $30 from her neighbors and handed it to Evanston City Manager Roger Crum this week, saying she wants it to go toward the city's budget in order to keep the library's north branch open.

"I just want to help," said Adele, a 7th-grader at Timber Ridge School, during Monday's council meeting.

Adele and other library supporters were rewarded for their efforts. Aldermen voted to spare the city's library branches, the summer youth employment program, police school liaison officers and an animal control warden.

Glenview volunteer responds: Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman Ty Laurie objected this week to his integrity allegedly being questioned by a Glenview board trustee who complained about the village's newly relaxed ethics ordinance.

Trustee John Crawford named Laurie as an example of why the old rules were necessary. Laurie is a partner in a law firm that represented a client before the Plan Commission.

Under the former ordinance, Laurie would have had to resign his volunteer post on the Zoning Board, despite the fact that he is not on the Plan Commission. The village attorney has said the former ordinance, in effect for only two years, was the harshest in the Chicago area.

"For two years prior to Jan. 15, the ethics ordinance was not fair or warranted," Laurie wrote in a letter defending his position. "There was no right of recusal for professionals volunteering their time, rather it was resign or force your [business] partner to give up his client."

Laurie accused Crawford of seeking political retribution because Laurie served as a leader on an opposing political party that carried the last election.